Posted by From LUCKY NWANKWERE, Abuja on
In a bid to warm up to the people of the volatile Niger Delta region, President Olusegun Obasanjo Tuesday unfolded what appears a comprehensive development package for the coastal states of the area.
In a bid to warm up to the people of the volatile Niger Delta region, President Olusegun Obasanjo Tuesday unfolded what appears a comprehensive development package for the coastal states of the area.
At the inauguration of the Consolidated Council on Social and Economic Development of Coastal States of the Niger Delta in the Presidential Villa, Abuja, he announced Federal
Government's intervention in the development of nine key areas in the region.
The initiative is part of a fresh intervention, in search of peace and development of the zone, in the aftermath of protracted crises, hostage-taking and violence by youths in the region, demanding greater share of the oil wealth of the Nigerian wetlands.
The talkshop, at which President Obasanjo presided, drew stakeholders including, oil companies' representatives, ministers, state governors, traditional rulers, leaders and elders, youths, Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), service chiefs and military officers.
The President set the tone for the day's business as he traced the history of the hitherto intractable problem, noting that the solution called for greater dialogue, transparency and networking amongst the various stakeholders.
He explained that the short term measures put in place would be implemented within two years time frame, medium term within two and five years, while the long term measures would take five years and beyond to be executed.
The president who named the areas as employment, transportation, education, health, communication, environment, agriculture, power and water resources, announced the offer of about 20,000 jobs to the indigenes of the region in the three services of the Armed Forces, the police as well as the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).
He said the three services of the Army, Navy and Air Force had been mandated to recruit 1000 indigenes of the area beginning from next month with the Nigerian Army absorbing 500 able-bodied men and women from the Niger Delta.
Of the figure, Bayelsa, Rivers, Delta states are to be given 100 slots each, Ondo 50, while Akwa Ibom, Cross River and Edo states are to get 25 slots each besides another 50 recruits categorized as 'tactical reserve'.
The Air Force and Navy are to recruit 250 persons each with Bayelsa, Rivers and Delta states contributing 50 slots each, Ondo and Akwa Ibom states 30 each while Cross River and Edo states each will get 20 slots. .
President Obasanjo who announced the immediate lifting of embargo on police recruitment directed that 10,000 new recruits be engaged from the area with 1,500 slots each allocated to Bayelsa, Rivers and Delta states while Ondo, Akwa Ibom, Cross River and Abia states each has 1000 slots.
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), he stated, would create 1000 new positions to be filled by qualified applicants from the coastal states.
Under transportation, he restated plan to dredge River Niger as part of measures to facilitate easy transportation of people and goods in the area, even as he revealed that the Niger Delta Development Commission (NNDC) and state governments in the area were to collaborate on the opening of creeks and water channels to create more routes for inland water transportation.
He also said government was planning to mechanically clear sea weeds in addition to a regional programme that would lead to co-operation with neighbouring countries who share water borders with Nigeria.
On education, the president said the Petroleum Training Institute (PTI), Effurun, Warri would be upgraded to a degree- awarding institution with officers already appointed to actualise the plan, besides the setting aside of a temporary site for the take- off of a federal polytechnic in Bayelsa State by September this year.
The Education Tax Fund (ETF), he stressed, has also been directed to assess what needed to be done at a community school in Okerenku, Delta State.
In the area of health, he said Rivers State government had agreed to complete the abandoned Auto Destruct Syringes factory to create more jobs and boost healthcare delivery, besides plan to establish primary healthcare centre in each of the local governments in the area.
On telecommunications, he said government would meet with the Global System of Mobile (GSM) telecommunications providers to extend coverage to major towns and communities in the area, just as he announced the empowerment of the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency to eliminate water pollution.
President Obasanjo who announced the recruitment of 7,300 National Certificate of Education (NCE) and university graduate teachers from the area before the end of the year also promised he would personally flag off the N230 billion long abandoned East-West road that cuts across major states in the region next month.
The parley was, however, not without side attractions. On some occasions, some of the governors, including Victor Attah (Akwa Ibom), Lucky Igbinedion (Edo) and James Ibori (Delta) and other participants got caught on the wrong side of the President's tongue with their presentations, which the President observed were either solicitous or too general and vague in the outlines of their plans and programmes.
For instance, the President cut short Governor Igbinedion's presentation for allegedly not being specific on its plans and programmes. When the Edo State governor resumed his speech, claiming that his government has completed a cassava mill in Uromi billed for commissioning soon, the President trenchantly interjected that he hoped it was not the same mill that had been there long ago. This drew a bout of laughter from the audience.
An apparently embarrassed Igbinedion was forced to quickly take his seat, telling the President that his memo to the assembly contained details of other projects.
Governor Ibori also got a word of caution from the President, when he solicited federal assistance and partnership to execute some projects including roads in Delta State.
President Obasanjo retorted in broken English: 'No, do your own make I do my own. So that you no go blame me if you failed to do what you were supposed to do."
This elicited a suggestion from the Ondo State Governor, Olusegun Agagu, that an agency be set-up to look at areas of overlap of responsibilities and co-ordinate the activities of the various governments and organisations involved in the entire scheme, to check duplication and waste.
An attempt by Attah to present an alternative plan to the development of the area was halted by the president who openly castigated him for not telling the audience what his government had done to address the problems of the area.
Attah, who appeared angered by the president's castigation said he believed that the reason for the forum was for them to rub minds on the issue of development of the area and not for them to say what they had done to address the problems.
'What we are doing and what we intend to do are all detailed in our budgets. I believe that this council being set up was to look at areas where in a collaborative manner we can help to make an intervention in the Niger Delta outside of what the states themselves are doing. If you misunderstood it, then that's a pity", he pointed out.
'Governor you are wrong", the president shouted at him, saying by complaining about the inadequacy of the NDDC, the governor was talking about the speck in the eyes of another when he had a log in his own eyes.
The group managing director of NNPC, Mr Funso Kupolokun, said the oil industry operators planned to upgrade their spending on community development, as part of their corporate responsibility, by 30 per cent, totalling N20 trillion in the next few years.
Of this, he said N11 trillion is expected to be spent by 2008.
In his contribution, Governor Peter Odili described President Obasanjo as the only Nigerian leader who had shown so much interest and done so much to address the problems of the Niger Delta.